‘Lead With Love’… Some Reflections For Recognising And Managing Stress In 2025

30^th April 2025

April 2025 is UK Stress Awareness Month which aims to foreground the enormous importance of recognising and managing stress in daily life, in all its manifestations, both in the workplace and in the personal domains of people’s lives. Given the pace of twenty first century existence, it is probably true to say that exposure to stress is unavoidable and that persons of all ages are likely to encounter it. This is not necessarily a bad thing and as any athlete will tell us, a certain level of stimulation and adrenalin-rush is necessary to generate a winning performance. However, when a critical level of stimulation is surpassed then productivity rapidly falls away and the individual becomes vulnerable mental and physical harm. Evidence supports this in that in the UK during 2023-24:

• There were 776,000 cases of work-related stress, depression or anxiety.
• Stress, depression or anxiety accounted for 46% of all work-related ill-health cases and 55% of all working days lost due to work-related ill-health
• The main work factors cited as causing work-related stress, depression or anxiety include the demands of the job, lack of control, lack of information and support, work relationships, and roles and responsibilities.

Source: Stress Management Society 2025

Beyond the world of work stress is also generated by events such as life transitions e.g. divorce and separation, loss of a spouse, child etc…even ‘Christmas!’ Unsurprisingly, these feature high up in the list of most commonly presented issues by clients in therapy and it can be argued that such clients are the lucky ones, having identified that there is a problem. Of greater concern are individuals who seem to have ‘no brakes’ who plough on experiencing high levels of stress with no respite and this unfortunately culminates in burnout i.e. complete physical and mental exhaustion.

Talking to a therapist at Derwent Rural Counselling Service (DRCS) can literally be a lifeline for any individual experiencing high levels of stress, whatever the source. Insights gained in these conversations enable us to see our world in new ways, which can be key in developing the resilience needed to ride life’s waves.

#howdoyoumanagestress #stressawarenessmonth #doyouwanttoaccesscounselling #counsellingwithDRCS #lookafteryourmentalhealth

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